Improvement in harvesters



. 'UNITED' STATITBS 4PATEnrr OFFICE.

B. F. RAY, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

IM PROVEM ENT LN HARVESTERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 22,977, dated February l5, 1859.

To all whom it may concer/n.:

Be it known that I, B. F. RAY, of the city of Baltimore, in the State of Maryland, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Harvesters; and I do hereby declare the following to be a clear, full, and4 exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying di awin gs, and to the marks and letters thereon.

0f the drawings forming part of this specication, Figure lis a perspective view of a harvester having my improvements; Fig. 2, a transverse vertical section ofthe main or power wheel, showing the cam-groovein which traverses the anti-friction roller 5 and Fig. 3, a view of the anti-friction roller with its arm and the rocker-shaft to which it is attached.

Myinvention consists in actuatingthe means that operate the reciprocating cutter-bar by a conical anti friction roller traversing a camgroove in the main or power wheel.

The cam-grooveain the main or power wheel b, as is shown by the drawings, is somewhat like a connected series ofthe bottom half of the letter U. The exterior or outer side ot' the groove at the point c, which corresponds with the bent part of the letter U, when the powerwheel is in operative position is horizontal or straight, while that part of the groove d which corresponds to the point of union of the parts of two letters is curved or beveled. rIhe inner side of the cam -groove by itself more nearly resembles a series of letters A, connected at the base.

It will be seen that opposite to each bent part c of the outer side ofthe groove is the apex of the letter, with a curved or beveled surface, e, while opposite to each point or surface d of the outer side of the groove the inner side of the groove e 1s straight or horizontal. The conical rollerf (shown fully at Fig. 3) has its apex cut olf, which leaves a plane-surface, g. It rotates on a shaft or pin, h, attached to an arm, i, of a vertical rocker-shaft, j, and communicates motion to the cutter-bar lc by these means and by a long arm, l, attached to the lower end of the rocker-shaftj, and a link, m, interposed between the end of the long arm l and the end of the cutter-bar 7c.

The arm t' and the arm l are both rigidly attached to the rocker-shaft and are at right angles to each other. Rotation of the main or power wheel b rotates the roller f upon its shaft wheel.

and at the same time makes it traverse the camgroove, in doing which, for every movement of the roller from the one point,'d, to theother ger, and the conical roller fresting against the beveled or curved surface d of the outer side of the groove. 0n motion. being given to the main-wheel b, it willbe perceived that when the roller has passed .from the surface d to the surface e on the inner side of the groove the cutters .fr will have passed over the space between the shoe and the first finger, and in like manner any two adjoining cutters will have passed over their respective cutting-space between other two fingers.

It will be noticed that the movements of the means here named for actuating the cutter-bar are very steady and easy and uniform, having very little friction, and operating with a remarkable degree of precision and eiciency.

Efforts have been made to use in harvesters afriction-rcller with acam-groove in the power- In one of these efforts a cylindrical roller with strictly parallel sides was fitted in a cam-groove whose sides were parallel and perpendicular to a plane bottom or face, and in another of these eftbrts a roller with plane ends and curved sides-what can properly be called a barrel-rollerL-was used in a like camgroove. Both of these efforts were entirely unsuccessful, it being found that the rollers would bind in the cam-groove, and that the necessary easy and regular motion of the means for operating the cutter-bar could not be obtained.

In experimenting with friction-rollers and cam-grooves for the purposes now named I ascertained that when the sides of the cam-groove were formed with alternating straight and beveled faces or surfaces, as yI have above described, and a conical roller used, the roller would traverse the groove with ease, regularity, and precision, and with little or no friction.

The drivers seat on the drawings is marked o; the tongue, p; the bar of the frame to which the tongue 'is hinged, q; the disk upon the tongue s, its lever, 1' thc screw for aiixing it to the tongue, o, and the chain or cord connecting the disk with the front end of the frame-bar, n. The disk s, it will be noticed, is attached to the tongue by a screw passing through a hole in its center. A cord or chain is attached to the periphery of the disk orpulley at y, which extends downward in a groove on the periphery of the disk, and bya loop or eye is secured to a pin, n, on the front end ot' the frame-bar. A lever, r, is rigidly attached to the disk and extends backward to the drivers seat, so that its rear end is within convenient control of the driver. The tongue being hinged to the bar q, the disk s, with its lever and cord orchain, constitutes a cam, and at any time while the machine is in motion moderate pressure ot' the drivers foot upon the rear end of the lever will elevate the front end of the cutter-frame, which can as readily and easily be lowered when necessary, so that the driver will have at all times ready and full control of the raising and lowering ot the cutter-frame to adapt the horizontal position ofthe bar tothe varying condition ot' the ground of the har-V Witnesses:

SAMUEL PIERCE, T. T. EVERETT. 

